Quick Tip

Taming Terminal Noise: Unified Logging with `2>&1`

Challenge: When running commands or scripts, you often get both standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) messages. This can clutter your terminal or make it difficult to capture all relevant information in a single log file.

The Solution: Redirect both standard output and standard error to a single destination using the `2>&1` redirection operator.

your_command &> output.log

Why it works: The `&>` operator is a shorthand for `> output.log 2>&1`. It redirects stdout (file descriptor 1) to `output.log` and then redirects stderr (file descriptor 2) to wherever stdout is currently pointing (which is `output.log`).

Pro-Tip: You can also achieve the same with your_command > output.log 2>&1, which is more explicit about the redirection of stderr to stdout.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/11/2026